WBS Penguins stay hot, defeat Adirondack

WILKES-BARRE TWP. - Rookie defenseman Brian Dumoulin is only about three months into his pro career, so there are some parts of his game he still needs to smooth out.

One thing he has already mastered, however, is the obvious.

"It's fun to win. It's a lot better than losing, obviously," he said with a grin Saturday night.

Dumoulin scored the game-winning goal for the second straight night as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Adirondack Phantoms, 2-1, in front of a sell-out crowd of 8,217 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Penguins have won back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

Goalie Brad Thiessen was outstanding for the second straight night, making 22 saves, including a breakaway stop on Harry Zolnierczyk with the Penguins nursing a 1-0 lead midway through the second period.

Thiessen, who blanked Hershey 1-0 on Friday night, has given up five goals in his last five starts.

"He's made the stops that we need," coach John Hynes said. "When you win these tight games, there are one or two he's going to have to come up big on. He's done that two nights in a row."

Dominik Uher banked a pass to Brian Gibbons off the boards in front of the team benches to start a three-on-two break. Dumoulin, the trailer, took a pass from Gibbons in the slot and buried a shot past goalie Scott Munroe's glove 2:18 before intermission.

"Any time you get a chance to take the lead, it's important. It gets the bench going. It gets everyone going," Dumoulin said. "It was a great play by Dom to chip the puck out, Bobby (Farnham) to drive down the middle and (Gibbons) to pull up and give me the puck there. It was just a great all-around play and it was important for me to score."

In a development that will be very beneficial for the team if it becomes a habit, the Penguins also scored on their first power-play chance of the game for the second straight night.

This time, Paul Thompson took a pass from Trevor Smith behind the net, wheeled around to the left post and took a shot, then jammed in his own rebound at the 7:11 mark.

The Phantoms, whose offense was decimated by call-ups to Flyers training camp, tied the score midway through the second period. Marcel Noebels scooped in the rebound of an Oliver Lauridsen shot from the blue line at the 8:36 mark.

The Penguins are dealing with their share of training-camp call-ups too, of course.

Eric Tangradi and Simon Despres went up Friday. Rookie forwards Beau Bennett and Jayson Megna were in Pittsburgh for an informal skate Saturday afternoon. Defensemen Brian Strait and Robert Bortuzzo, healthy scratches Saturday, are expected to join them today.

The end result was a new-look lineup.

"When you change players, you're getting everything that comes with that player, their dedication, their attitude, their commitment level, their different type of personality. Then the team changes in a different direction," Hynes said. "That's definitely going to happen because we're going to have different types of guys in our room at different stages of their career and that brings a different type of energy level and mentality."

Contact the writer: jbombulie@citizensvoice.com

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